Buildings in which the walls are formed by layer-building with timbers have been widely employed in the form of log cabins and log houses. The increasing "outdoor" trend of recent years has led to an increased demand for log houses. Notwithstanding their appearance due to their natural wood grain, these types of log houses are advantageous in that the interior can be maintained at the proper humidity because the timbers which form the walls breath. Such advantages, which artificial building materials do not have, should not be overlooked.
Original log houses are quite difficult for an individual to construct: uniform timbers are difficult to procure, and specialists are needed to machine the materials as well as in the design and construction.
Accordingly, with the object of enabling non-specialists to construct a comparatively simple log house without the use of specialized technology or equipment, the applicant of the present invention disclosed the invention of "Wood Blocks" in Japanese Unexamined [Kokai] Patent Publication No. Hei. 2-17711 [1990] and Japanese Examined [Kokuku] Patent Publication No. Hei. 6-50007 [1994].
These wood blocks form walls similar to those that are obtained when long angular timbers are layered on each other. This is done by layer-building not with long timbers but by joining short block-like wooden materials together. Specifically, the blocks are horizontally linked at joints in both ends, the top and bottom of the blocks are linked by protrusions and grooves formed in the top and bottom surfaces thereof, and an slanting surface is formed in the protruding area in the top. As a result of such a construction, rainwater that has penetrated through the joining areas is drained.
In particular, the invention disclosed in Japanese Examined [KoKoKu] Patent Publication No. Hei. 2-6-50007[1994] has a construction in which the inside and outside are reversible. This is made by forming reciprocally slanting surfaces on each side of the block with an area in the vicinity of the centerline of the block acting as a boundary therebetween, so that regardless of the inside/outside orientation of the block, rainwater that has penetrated through the joining surfaces in the joints of the blocks is drained to the outside.
As a result of this construction, a wall that is resistant to wind and rain can be easily formed with a very simple procedure by relying on bolts that are established on the foundation.
Similar to the aforesaid invention disclosed by the applicant of the present invention, this invention also uses block-like building materials to form walls by layer-building. However, the object of the present invention is to provide blocks for walls in houses and buildings in which the structure of the walls formed are longitudinally reinforced, and in which the measures for keeping out rainwater are augmented.